To revere is to feel a deep respect or admiration for something or someone. Do you feel this towards God? Do you respect and admire Him? Do good works you do for Him make you feel that you are revering Him? There are, indeed, good works that we do. Christ Jesus founded our very nature in Himself by the good works which God prepared beforehand for us to walk in. In His great love and kindness for us, He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
Ephesians 2:4–10 (NKJV) – But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
God desires us to be reverent with our love for Him. When we are, it inevitably will blanket everything we do for Him. Seed, when placed in the ground by a farmer needs only to respond rightly to that which will make it grow and become fruitful. What fruit will a seed have without earth around it? What fruit do we have without God around us to hold and guide us through the arduous process of growth in our love for Him? Love surpasses knowledge because knowledge can be restrictive in our approaching the Cross with nothing less than our whole hearts.
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8)!” The pure in heart see God because they do not hide from Him. There is a way to hide from God behind knowledge. Remember the foolish servant who buried his talent in the ground; “I KNEW (Matthew 25:24)!” God wants us to be comfortable in His presence no matter what our circumstances may be. The difference between revering Him with love rather than with the works we do is in our faithfulness to hold fast our confession of faith and not lean on our understanding when things don’t go the way we thought they would (Proverbs 3:5+6). If we only revere Him with what we do, or know, then when we “burn out” there will be nothing left in our hearts but discontentment and disappointment. When we admire Him with our love, it shows Him that we are comfortable in His presence no matter how dirty or useless we may feel. When we feel discomfort in God’s presence, it is then we must confess our sins to Him who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
